First things first, Kate Fagen has
a post up over at Deep Sixer which touches on some of the same themes we've been discussing in the comments here. Her suggestion, change the starting lineup to this:
- Miller
- Green
- Iguodala
- Thad
- Brand
I understand the logic to sliding Thad to the 4 (more on this after the jump) and Iguodala to the 3, but here's the thing. Willie Green at the 2 is not the solution.
First, let's use
BasketballValue.com to look at how that particular unit has performed. They've played a total of 34.6 minutes together, scored 67 points on 65 possessions, given up 64 points on 62 possessions. Let's extrapolate the numbers to a per/48 basis and compare them to the current starting lineup on the same scale.
Starters With Willie (per 48)- 92.94 possessions
- 90.17 points
- 88.78 opp. possessions
- 86.01 opp. points
- + 4.16 point dif.
Starters With Dalembert (per 48)- 90.99 possessions
- 92.54 points
- 91.14 opp. possessions
- 83.55 opp. points
- + 8.99 point dif.
Clearly, the Sixers are a less-efficient team with Willie on the floor with the rest of the starters. Keep in mind that Willie is also performing way above his career numbers so far this season, so with the best version of Willie we've ever seen, the offense still doesn't perform better with him in their instead of Dalembert. This doesn't sound like a recipe for success to me. This team's problem is scoring at this point, inserting Willie is not going to solve that problem.
More after the jump.
Now, let's see what happens when Iguodala moves around on the court. The chart below shows the team's production when Iguodala plays various positions.
(This chart is taken directly from 82games.com, please click on the link and check out their site)At first blush, this chart would tell you that Iguodala has been much better as a shooting guard, but that's not really what's going on. Here is his personal production, by position.
The real culprit here isn't Iguodala's production at the 2 or 3, it's who plays the 2 when he slides down to the three. Two players are to blame, for the most part, Lou and Willie. The team, as a whole, suffers due to their poor play.
The answer to this team's problems may very well be moving Iguodala back to his natural position at the three, Thad to the four and Brand to center, but that's only if you have a viable starting shooting guard to move into the lineup. A guy who's going to provide enough offense to offset the cost of removing Dalembert's defense. Right now, the offense is less productive with Willie at the 2, and I shudder to think what it will look like when Willie's shooting numbers normalize to his career stats.
The Sixers will finish off their home-and-home with the Bulls at 8:30 p.m. tonight. Need I say this is a game they can, should, maybe must win? Check out
Tremendous Upside Potential for Bulls coverage.
I have no problem with making a line up change FOR THIS GAME - the bulls lack height - so it's not a huge thing - however I absolutely refuse to accept willie green in the starting line up - i'd rather have louis williams in the back court with miller - they can swap on defense - cause we all know that Derrick Rose abuses Andre Miller on defense anyway and I don't like Willie Greens defense.
The Louis Williams as point guard experiment really needs to end soon - and mo's love for willie green needs to end sooner (like last year)
Lou is capable of playing a serviceable point, he did it for long stretches last year. He needs to be sat down and have explained to him that he is, in fact, the point guard, not Allen Iverson, not the guy they want taking every available shot.
Willie has always been and probably will always be a 10-15 minute off the bench player who's capable of getting hot and giving an offense a quick boost. If he's starting for you, you have serious, serious problems.
No
He's not a point
He's never been asked to be a point, he didn't grow up being a point, he's not a 'serviceable' point guard, he's a short shooting guard that the sixers are trying to FORCE into being a point guard, which is asinine. He has no natural point guard instincts. All trying to force him to be a point guard does is mess up the strengths of his game. He's an undersized shooting guard, and always has been and always will be, you can force him to play out of position or you can let him be what he is and get rid of that piece of crap willie green. The delusion that Louis Williams can be an NBA point guard is why the sixers are so ROYALLY screwed now that Miller seems rapidly in decline - they have no other options.
I'm tried of people saying louis williams is a point guard just because he's short - he's not - he's an undersized shooting guard - and at shooting guard he's better than willie green long term if the sixers let him be what he is and stop trying to force him to be what he's not, but the sixers (nor their fans) seem capable of doing that be it Louis Williams, Willie Green, ANdre Iguodala or Thaddeus Young
I'm going to disagree here. Last year, when they made their big second half run, Williams play at the point was a big part of it. He cut down on his FGA and distributed the ball extremely well.
Now maybe he could be a small shooting guard as well, and maybe that's his best role in the future, but as long as they're playing him at the point, they need him to play it like a point and not a shot-crazy SG. Speaking of which, even if he is a 2 guard, his shot selection needs to improve drastically.
I don't get why people would want to remove Sammy. The major problem with the team is the 2 spot. So to solve this problem, we are going to maximize the minutes of the players who are sucking at the 2 at the expense of minutes for our 2nd best player right now, in my opinion, in Dalembert.
Sammy hasn't been playing well. He looks more lost than anyone in the half-court. Your point is valid, though. I think the problem is that I don't see a solution at the 2 on the roster right now. It's an imperfect solution that may just make this team better offensively, which is the big picture problem at this point.
OK, I'm getting mixed up now. Thought this comment was in response to the next post.
No, I don't think removing Sammy in favor of any of the 2 guards on the bench is a good idea at all. Removing him in favor of Speights may make some sense.
Sorry, no sleep last night.
Sammy hasn't been playing well for years...it's just there were no better options - there now is a better option
Unfrotunately sam will whine if he gets benched and cause distruption